With respect to Darren Lehmann, thank heavens for pulled calf muscles. If the prolific former Australia batsman had passed muster this past week, the chances are that an 18-year-old from the Yorkshire academy would not have made his championship debut for the county in their match against Warwickshire at Scarborough.

Instead, Adil Rashid became the second Yorkshire-born player of Asian extraction to play for the club in a championship game. Although selected primarily as a batsman in Lehmann's absence, Rashid is also a leg-spinner of rich potential. After picking up a wicket on the first day with his eighth delivery in first-class cricket, he then took six for 67 in the second innings as Yorkshire sauntered to a crushing victory inside three days.

This is, of course, the same Yorkshire who have, in some quarters, been pilloried down the years for not giving Asians a fair crack of the whip. While there may have been more than a grain of truth in the accusations a decade or two ago, it is demonstrably not the case now. Apart from the Bradford-born Rashid, there are currently a further seven players of Asian background at the county's academy and plenty more in the various age-group sides. For the record, Ismail Dawood, who was born in Dewsbury, made his championship debut for Yorkshire in 2004, having already represented three other counties, while Ajmal Shahzad, then 18, played one-day cricket for the first team in the same season. Shahzad, who was subsequently laid low by injuries, is once again on the fringe of selection and, according to David Byas, the county's director of cricket, 'has every chance of coming into the championship side this week'.

Rashid has declared that his ambition is to play for England and that he would like to be a role model for the Asian community. 'My family are originally from Pakistan and I would definitely like to inspire more interest in Yorkshire cricket among Asians,' he says. So, British Asians are finally making their mark at the most successful - and, historically, most divided - of all the county clubs.

'I guess there has been an old boys' brigade at Yorkshire in the past, but there has been a change of attitudes at the club in recent years,' says Stewart Regan, the county's chief executive. 'The whole issue of the past - when the club was accused of being institutionally racist - is history.

When Adil Rashid made his championship debut at Scarborough, it was a great day for the club and it proved any lingering critics wrong. 'Part of the perceived problem in the past was that Asians didn't feel welcome at Yorkshire. Not necessarily for racist reasons, but because they didn't feel part of the set-up. And maybe that was because not many of their group were in or around the first team. We have moved on in that respect and when Adil announced on television that his ambition was to play for England, well, to me, that was just superb.' Byas selected Rashid for the match against Warwickshire after the 18-year-old had scored four centuries for Yorkshire's second XI in six matches.

'Adil's a lovely lad who bristles with a really nice confidence,' Byas says. 'He obviously has limited experience at the moment, but he is capable of batting in the top four or five in domestic cricket. He is also a magnificent spinner - the longer he bowled against Warwickshire, the better he got. Adil is just one of a number of young cricketers from an Asian background who we think an awful lot about. And if they're good enough, they'll play.'

Shahid Malik, the member of parliament for Dewsbury and - along with fellow Labour MP Sadiq Khan - the first British-born Muslim to be elected to the House of Commons, says: 'Yorkshire County Cricket Club have been bedevilled with a tag of racism for many years, but Adil Rashid's selection and performance will at last put that to rest. The club have worked for many years with players of black and Asian background and they are now reaping the rewards of their labours.

'The wonderful thing is that Adil wants to play for England. It doesn't come as a surprise to me, but it might do to many people. Being non-Christian doesn't make you any less Yorkshire or any less English and his breakthrough was something that was desperately needed - much like Amir Khan's deeds in the boxing ring. Sport is one of the special ways by which people can be brought together. And it can possibly do more than legislation can.'